So, I’m enjoying myself in this game. Even the personal stories aren’t that bad, and I like to hop in and see what my story has next in store for me.

But dear lord, some of the dialogue is horrendous. I feel like most of the dialogue was written by a rejected high fantasy novelist. The only thing it’s missing is the obligatory “old english” inflections.

The least painful dialogue comes from the Asura and Charr storylines, where the characters actually show a little bit of self-interest. But even they aren’t safe from all the Hero/Villain and Good/Evil talk.

There’s no sarcasm, there’s no sense of irony, there’s very little humor. The conversation text boxes you can read between cutscenes are more believable than the actual cutscenes themselves.

Actually I disagree. I admit that some of the dialogue isn’t that great but overall I think it’s pretty good. Tybalt Leftpaw (an Order of Whispers character) had some of the best dialogue I’ve seen in an MMO. If you came into this game expecting Mass Effect quality dialogue you’re going to be disappointed. But if you take it for what it is it’s good.

If by “Mass Effect quality dialogue,” you mean “dialogue that’s natural and believable,” then yeah, I did.

Nobody TALKS like this. That’s my point. It’s stilted and extremely campy and sounds like something you would expect from amateur hour at your local community theater.

For the record, it’s not the fault of the voice-actors, it’s the script that’s the problem.

In what content is the writing/VO problematic for you? The ambient world stuff? The personal story? The dungeons? They were all handled differently. The more specific examples you give, the better we can understand your feedback. I realize that this post is in the personal story section, but I want to know if your criticism is limited to that.

Sorry. Since this is the Personal Story forum, I just assumed that it was clear I was referring to the Personal Story.

Unfortunately, I feel like I’m not explaining myself very well. Let me see if I can find some specific examples to pick apart. I’ll post again when I have something more concrete.

It helps if we know how the dialogue and VO are being presented (ambient, cinematic conversation, etc.). This is more so I can analyze feedback and compare it to my own observations. We’re striving to improve the quality of the writing and voice-over with each release, and I’m curious if some of the player feedback matches mine.

I believe the issue is with the genre of higher fantasy that you have the expectations of epicness.

The Norn are all stoic hunters, the humans all heroic, the Charr all powerful, Asura are all genius inventors, etc.

However by constantly applying this same trope to every set of dialogue, you create a feeling of staleness.

After one hundred Norns all talking about glory in the exact same tone of voice, you lose their individuality. The characters become defined by their races instead of colored by them. Yes, a Norn might have been raised in a society that glorifies hunting and power, but would -all- Norn have the same “For glory! They shall sing my songs in the halls of etc etc” sphiel?

Cause currently, they do.

I think ArenaNet has fallen back in to the old trope that everything has to be epic. No character must show weakness. It must all be amazing. They all rise to the occasion and they are all heroes. They never once falter.

Hell, we even miss the one crowning moment of possible moral ambiguity in the series, the defection of Logan.

It’s far too black and white and far too unbelievable. It works in a limited sense, but unfortunately, it reduces the believability of the character as a multi-faceted individual if all of them share it.

So I think a bit more work needs to be done to flesh out your side characters. We don’t want all of them to be simpering cowards, but it’s not bad to hate a NPC. We don’t have to like them all. It’s more believable if there are some we like and some we find insufferable. It also adds to the story immensely if they are redeemed or not redeemed, versus us going in knowing that they are:

A) Either going to be heroes and succeed
B) Going to be Heroes and die trying.

I’ll be completely honest, I really didn’t buy GW2 for the story telling. I love the game mind you, but the NPCs could use some serious work.

Its a video game geared to serve as many people as possible. What seems neutral and unimaginative to you may seem heroic to some other percentage of the other estimated 1,999,999 people that purchased the game.

But we all have to make the best of the personal storyline. Because there is no way for Anet to customize the dialogue to fit “everyones” expectations.

It’s true we built a game that we hope appeals to a wide audience, but it does help to understand the tastes of our more vocal players. There’s always room for improvement with what we do, so we’ll be taking this and other feedback into consideration as we continue to evolve GW2 over the years.

Also human storyline with the missing sister.
What happens? You save her, and never see her again? Where does she go? Does my character ever speak to her again? Does go back on duty, drop out of the seraph?
Same with Quinn. I didn’t feel much in common with some of the characters. It’s like they drop out as you progress. I think maybe if they popped in again and helped fight the dragon or something there would be a better connection.

To me it seems like here’s segments of the story.

Human – Quinn, Pete etc.
Order -Tybalt
Trahearne – Dragon. END

What happens to Quinn etc? Perhaps put them in somewhere, to help or do something.

I really hope ANet people are reading these, because many of the posters above make very sensible arguments/suggestions, particularly the idea that the personal story should only ever attempt to treat you like a decent adventurer/credit to the team, not as a central figure, because that leads you to ask: “If I’m so gosh-darn important, why can’t I make any of the important choices?”

We’ve been reading this thread since it was created. Some great feedback in here.